Eric Bell

Eric Bell
Bell performing at the unveiling of the statue for former bandmate Phil Lynott, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Eric Robin Bell
Born	(1947-09-03) 3 September 1947 (age 69) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Genres	Rock, blues rock, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, backing vocals
Associated acts	Them, Thin Lizzy, The Noel Redding Band, Eric Bell Band

Eric Robin Bell (born 3 September 1947 in East Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founder member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy. After his time in Thin Lizzy, he briefly fronted his own group before joining The Noel Redding Band in the mid-1970s. He has since released several solo albums and performs regularly with a blues-based trio, the Eric Bell Band.

Bell began his career with local groups around the Belfast area, including the last incarnation of Them to feature Van Morrison, between September and October 1966. He also played with a number of other bands including Shades of Blue, The Earth Dwellers and The Bluebeats, before joining an Irish showband named The Dreams. He left in 1969 having tired of the showband format, and at the end of that year he formed a band with local musicians Phil Lynott, Eric Wrixon and Brian Downey. Bell named the group Thin Lizzy, after Tin Lizzie, a robot character in The Dandy comic.

Wrixon left Thin Lizzy after a few months, and the remaining trio later secured a contract with Decca Records. As lead guitarist, Bell played on Thin Lizzy's first three albums Thin Lizzy, Shades of a Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds of the Western World, as well as their hit single "Whiskey in the Jar". He co-wrote a number of songs with Lynott and Downey, including "The Rocker" which became a live favourite throughout the band's career. He also composed one song on his own, "Ray Gun", from their first album, Thin Lizzy.

Although Thin Lizzy gained in popularity during the early 1970s, the pressures of recording, touring and the excesses of the rock star lifestyle began to take their toll. He left the band after a New Year's Eve concert in 1973, after throwing his guitar into the air in the middle of the concert, pushing the amplifiers into the audience and storming off stage. He stated later that he had no regrets about leaving: "I really had to leave because of ill-health. It was exhaustion, and the majority of things that were available to me... I couldn't really handle it." He was temporarily replaced by Gary Moore.